Hello David,
Following our trip to China last month, we prepared a report that remained in my inbox drafts.
A little late, please find our report below:
Overall, we loved this trip! Thank you very much!
The guides and hotels were very well chosen.
We particularly enjoyed the Chinese breakfasts outside in a restaurant rather than the Western breakfasts at the hotel.
The two days in Zhangjiajie were perfect: good timing, good intensity, and a very unusual night in the park.
For the Yunnan section, the pace was a little too “slow” for our liking, and we sometimes felt like we were wasting our time waiting at the hotel for the next day.
For example, in the gorges, we found the hike up high to be uninteresting, not really offering any new views of the valley, and especially too short (1.5 hours).
The hike to the bottom of the gorges was more enjoyable, with a new perspective.
One night in Wumu is enough to appreciate the exceptional location. There’s nothing to do once there, so the second night is a bit boring. We even watched a movie to occupy ourselves in the evening, which is a bit frustrating on such a long trip.
The hike to Baoshan is great (one morning), but the return trip is long and uninteresting (one afternoon).
The rest of the places visited in this region were perfect.
For Beijing, the part of the wall visited was absolutely magnificent, we loved it! The guide was useless because in addition to not speaking English, she had difficulty walking. We would have preferred to be independent on this hike which presented no difficulty. In addition, announced for 5 hours of walking we only took 2:30 (and yet she did not advance). To see if the route can be extended for those who wish in case of good weather?
The Beijing tour, although express, was sufficient if you want to see these places quickly; it was perfect. The self-guided tour of the Forbidden City was also very good because we had time to wander around everywhere.
Thank you again for this wonderful trip, which also made our loved ones dream.
Good day,
Timothé and Axelle